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TORY MPs have accused their own leadership of having soft-touch approach to travellers - and called for a draconian crackdown emulating Ireland.

A number of Conservative MPs called for a tougher approach, with the most popular option being to make acts of deliberate trespass a criminal offence. The new rules were referred to as the “Irish option”, as it would reflect the tough stance taken towards travellers in the country.

Conservative MP for Rayleigh and Wickford, Mark Francois, said during a special House of Commons debate that it would create "a real deterrent” that would put travellers off of moving onto land they do not own.

Fellow Tory Andrew Selous, MP for South West Bedfordshire, branded the current situation “a complete disgrace” and said: “Ministers and the officials responsible for this policy area should be hanging their heads in shame.”

He added: “Threats, violence, theft and other forms of intimidation have become everyday occurrences to some of my constituents, and Bedfordshire police, with an already overstretched budget, are not able to respond in as timely a manner as they would wish, leaving many of my constituents living in fear. A lady wrote to me in June to say that she will be moving away from the area as she no longer feels safe, having been assaulted by travellers.”

He added that his fellow Tory MP had “told it like it is - I agreed with everything he said, I support the Irish option.”

The Sunday Express revealed earlier this month that councils across the UK had been left with massive clean-up costs running into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Council officials said travellers involved in the scam were charging tradesmen and householders cut-price rates to dispose of commercial waste on the public land.

Council officials said the fly-tipping travellers were charging as little as £30 for a 3.5 ton truckload, dumping it on land next to their caravans and then moving on and repeating the offence at another location.

The problem has prompted councils across London, Essex, Surrey, Hampshire, the West Midlands and Lancashire to obtain High Court “blanket injunctions”.

These mean that travellers can face fines, jail or seized assets if they pull on to any land it covers.

Tim Loughton, Tory MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, said yesterday: “The real problem is that travellers will break in and cause damage to gain access to illegal encampments.

“When they depart, they invariably leave behind a trail of devastation and rubbish, which costs the local taxpayer an enormous amount to clear up.

“Is not the change in the law that we need that, rather than having to point to a single person who caused the access damage, any group of travellers illegally encamped should be collectively liable for fines and compensation, which could involve the confiscation of often quite valuable vehicles?”